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Forum addresses fetal alcohol syndrome

Posted:
04/23/2014 03:00:00 AM EDT

BRATTLEBORO -- Early Education Services is hosting "Creating a Circle of Hope: the Role of the Medical Provider in Identifying, Intervening and Preventing Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders," on April 24 from 5 to 8 p.m., with a light supper, at Marlboro Graduate Conference Center. And on April 25, at the Brattleboro Retreat, EES is hosting "Identifying, Intervening and Preventing Learning and Behavioral Disorders" for EES staff and community members from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

These events are co-sponsored by The Rocking Horse Circle of Support, a Vermont Department of Public Health funded program for parents effected by substance abuse, and an anonymous local women's charity organization. Members of the medical community are invited to attend the April 24 event, and any community member is invited to attend the event on April 25. Interested parties should contact Bernie at 802-254-3742, ext. 0, for event registration.

Both events will be presented by Kathleen Tavenner Mitchell, currently the vice president and international spokeswoman for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and a noted speaker on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and women and addictions. Mitchell is a faculty member of the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine Selective and was appointed by Donna E. Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on the National Task force on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

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She serves on several expert national and international panels concerned with fetal alcohol syndrome and women and substance use disorders.

One of every 100 children in the United States is born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, caused by alcohol abuse during pregnancy; a statistic similar to the number of children born on the autistic spectrum. The effects of FAS are far reaching and require that informed, trained professionals understand the impact and strategies involved in order to help those affected, especially children, to experience positive, healthy lives.

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